Come back Italy, all is forgiven. While I maintain panettone is a disappointment, florentines mean Christmas for me. This time of year is nothing if not a celebration of dried fruit and sugar, and florentines have these in abundance. I made these as dessert, but they could easily be given as a present, wrapped up in a bag with a bit of nice string. So if you can’t bear to look at another shop, rustle these up instead. One proviso, I don’t know how shop bought florentines manage to get their perfectly round shape, I tried several times but couldn’t manage it, they spread irresistibly into lacy blobs.

(I doubled this recipe, to make about 35 florentines, so I reckon this one makes about 17)

Melt the butter, sugar and flour under a low heat, stirring until it’s all melted. Gradually add the cream, it should go golden and caramel in texture. Then add all the other ingredients except the chocolate. Grease a baking sheet, then put flattened teaspoons of the mixture onto it, make sure they are well seperated because they do spread a lot in the cooking. Bake at gas 5 for about 10 minutes, but watch them, because they burn quickly. You won’t harm them by opening the oven door a few times. You’ll have to do one tray at a time because they have got to go on the top shelf. Leave to cool for a few minutes, then prise off onto a cooling rack.

Now melt the chocolate. Using a spoon, either cover the backs of the florentines in chocolate, or half cover them by dipping them in the bowl. Either way has its drawbacks. I ended up with several stuck to the plate, but it was a good excuse to eat them. This is a good finger licking recipe, because the chocolate gets all over you. Leave to set for a while, then consume greedily.